Ruth Reviews – The Five Misfits by Beatrice Alemagna

There were five of them altogether. Five misfits. The five had never amounted to much in life, nor did they feel like doing anything. And then one day, from who knows where, came an extraordinary fellow… When Mr Perfect comes to stay, the five misfits find themselves questioning what their purpose in life is. Can they teach him that not fitting in is more fun than trying to be perfect? A quirky, allegorical picture book from the multi award-winning creator of A Lion in Paris.

Story

The story is all about these 5 characters who are weird and quirky, each with their own flaw. When Mr. Perfect comes along they prove to him that they don’t care what he thinks, and they carry on their weird and quirky lives.

Characters

The Punctured One, the Folded One, the Feeble One, the Upside Down One, and the Wrong One all make up the troupe of misfits. They are certainly unique in their own way, but haven’t really done anything productive in their lives.

Art

The art style looks like it’s made out of cut out paper and felt tips, but it’s still expressive and unique.

Moral

The idea of the story is that you don’t have to be perfect to be happy, that flaws are okay and you can make the best of them. Despite that, the characters don’t do anything productive. They might have accepted their flaws, (which is great) but I think it would still be important to try and do something with their lives, even something simple.

Value for money

It is a large format book and I think it could be read by an adult in an expressive way to make it more entertaining, but I certainly wouldn’t pay the RRP for this. I would rent it from the library for a child who suffers from low self-esteem, or for a child who just needs a pick me up. Currently only available in Hardback.

Hardback RRP: £12.99

Age appropriateness

I think young children aged between 2-5 would get the most out of this book.

My vote

I like the message in this book but the art style is not sophisticated enough for my liking. I appreciated the characters and the moral but I wish that they at least tried to do something with their lives.

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Ruth Ellen Parlour is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk.